Loom



SPt 22 1953 A. BARZAGHI 2,652,860

' LooM Filed Sept. 3, 1949 2 Sheet's-Sheet l A. BARZAGHI Sept. 22, 1953 LOOM 2 shets-sheet 2 Filed Sept. 3, 19.49

Patented Sept. 22, 1953 LOOM Angelo Barzaghi, Milan, Italy Application September 3, 1949, Serial No. 114,010 In Italy March 29, 1949 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in looms in which 'the weft is inserted by means of grippers.

In traditional looms, the weft is inserted in the warp pace by means of a shuttle which is alternately driven from one side to the other -and vice versa and which contains a bobbin from which the weft thread unwinds.

There are also known shuttleless looms in which lthe weft is inserted by means of a positively driven gripper and in which the weft thread unwinds from a bobbin arranged on one side of the loom.

Another kind of loom is also known and in which a plurality of grippers is used, the grippers being driven from one side to the other of the loom like shuttles and eachtransporting a weft thread, and which return to the starting side beneath the warps. The weft thread here is also fed from a bobbin arranged at one side of the loom.

As distinguished from the known looms, in subject loom the weft is inserted by means of one gripper which vis alternately driven from ,one side to the other of the loom in the manner of a shuttle and transports a weft at each stroke, the wefts being unwound from bobbins arranged .at each side of the loom.

The improved loom according to subject invention comprises means for receiving and d-riving a transporting gripper at and from each side 'of the loom like a shuttle, means for feeding a weft thread from each side of the loom, means ,for presenting a weft thread end from the feeding means to the gripper at each side of the loom, a transporting gripper adapted to pick up the weft thread end at each side of the loom and to draw it to the other side of the loom thereby inserting it in the warp pace, and means for cutting off a weft thread length after the insertion thereof in the warp pace. p

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings showing by way of example a preferred embodiment of the inventive concept.

.In the drawings: l

Figure l is a diagrammatic View of the gripper and receiving boxes;

Figure 2 is a top viewrof the gripper; y

Figure 2A is a sectional View along v20L of Figure 2;

lliigure Y3 is a` fragmentary top View of the right-hand receiving box shown in Figure 1, enlarged;

Figure 4. is a View oi the left end of the receiving box shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an elevational view of the driver momentarily in the right 'end of the receiving box shown in Figure 3; and l Figure 6 is an elevational view of the device for holding the driver in advanced position.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawings where like reference numerals indicate like parts it will be noted that only 'the parts of the loom are illustrated which cooperate to achieve the inventive concept, that is for the insertion of the wefts. The remaining parts of the loom can be constructed and operated in the usual way.

In the drawings, I and I are the driving arms which are pivoted at their lower ends at Il! and iii and are pivotally connected at said lower ends at I5 and I5 to rods I6 and I6" which in turn are connected together through a spring I6.

The upper ends of the arms I and I are connected at 2 andv 2 to the rods 3 and 3 which carry at their free ends the driving h eads or pickers i and 4', respectively. The pickers 4 and 4 are slidably inserted within the receiving boxes I0 and I0', and are connected to the rods -3 and 3 by the pins il" and 4', and the clamps 3 (Fig. 3) which will be described later. Reference numerals v5 and 5 indicate guide arms xed at the upper side of the pickers and having near the ends of the guide arms a bore through which pass threads 6 and 6 coming through the fixed guides 9 and 9' from bobbins 8 and '8' arranged at each side of the loom. Reference nu- 1 merals i' I and II indicate the position of the scissors for cutting on the weft threads after each insertion, l2 indicates some of the warp threads, I3 the upper surface of the slay, and It' indicates the transporting gripper running upon the surface of the slay from box I@ to box E0' and vice versa.

The transporting gripper Il, Figures 2 and 2A, consists of a fiat sheath I'l" the 'end positions Il' and vI l" of which are cut away as illustrated. In the interior of the sheath ,a tongue I8" is pivoted by means of a pin 22 with the ends of the tongue, I8 and I 8', projecting from the cut away portions. The end portions of both the sheath Vand the tongue are shaped to formpincers at each end o-f the gripper. At each oscillation of the tongue about the pin 22, the pincers, forexample Il and I0' at one end ofthe gripper are closed and simultaneously the pincers i1 and I8 at the other end are opened. The sheath is covered on opposite sides with layers I0 and 20 of suitable material such as wood or fibers fixed at the points 2|, and 2|. Between the tongue I8 and one side of the sheath is a spring 23 held in place by the pin 22, the spring maintaining the tongue under tension against one side of the sheath to prevent any movement of the tongue in any but the desired manner.

The similar receiving boxes I0 and ID.' are shown in general in Figure 1 and the receiving box IIJ is shown in detail in Figures 3 and 4. rThe box I0 consists mainly of the side guides 3l and 32, the guide 32 having a rounded front edge 32Y and the guide 3| a similar edge 3I in order to facilitate the entry of the gripper in the box. Reference numeral 29 indicates a braking tongue pivoted at 30 and controlled by the lever 28 from a control rod of common use in looms which controls the arrival of the shuttle and the lmovement of the slay in a known manner. In front of each box is a lever arm 24 pivoted at 25 upon the slay. The lever 24 is in operable engagement with an arm 26 pivoted at 25 and with a roller in the free end as illustrated. The arms 24 and 26 are urged by a spring 25 on the pivot pin 25 to keep the lever 24 and arm 26 in raised position as shown by the full lines in Figure 4. A guideway 2"! is xed at on a fixed part 34 of the loom, the guideway 2I having a plate 36 pivoted at 3l.

The picker 4 (Fig. 5) is iixed on the rod 3' by means of the clamp 3" and pin 4. On the same clamp there is also fixed the thread guide arm 5 and an arm I carrying at the free end thereof the pincers 1.

Figure 6 shows a device designed to keep the picker 4 in advanced position for some time after j having driven the gripper II out of the box I6', it being understood that there is a similar device for the box I6. The device of Figure 6 is constituted of a pivot pin 38 fixed on the slay and on which pin the connected levers 39, 42, and 46 are pivoted. The lever 42 has at the free end thereof a step 44. The step 44 is normally urged toward the lower position, that is the dashed line position, through lever 46 and spring 4I. The arm I like the arm I has at the upper end a step 45 designed to engage the step 44 so that after the arm I with picker 4 has been driven forwardly to drive the gripper out of the box I6 it will be retained by the step -44 in the advanced position until it becomes again free. To free the arm from the advanced position and to permit the return thereof, L

there is an element 46 which at a given moment is raised by the loom mechanism (not shown) to act with the inclined side on the end 46 and to displace it toward the right as shown in Figure 6. Thus, the step 44 of the lever 42 is raised out of the step 45 of the arm I and the picker will be drawn by the spring I6' to the rear of the box. The purpose of the device of Figure 6 is to prevent waste of thread as will be seen later.

The operation of the loom in so far as the invention of the wefts is concerned works as follows: The gripper Il is continuously driven from one side to the other of the loom like the usual shuttle so that the loom is substantially constructed and works like the usual shuttle loom with the exception that the shuttle does not contain any bobbin but rather the weft thread is picked up at each side of the loom and drawn to the other side by means of the transporting gripper. At each side of the loom are the boxes I6 and I0 to receive the gripper I'I and to drive it by means of the picker 4 or 4 toward the opposite side and Vice versa. When the box I6 or l0 is ready to receive the gripper I'I, the picker 4 4 or 4 is in rear position (Fig. 3), and one end of the thread 6 or 6 coming from the bobbins 8 or 8 and passing through guides 9 or 9 and 5 or 5' is held by pincers 'I as shown in Figure 5.

The gripper II arrives at the box, for example I0', with the pincers, IIl and I8 in the open position so that when entering the box the gripper can pick up the thread end stretched between 5 and 'I (Fig. 5). The gripper is stopped by the picker as the end I8 of the tongue I8 strikes against part 4 of the picker (Fig. 3) to close the pincers I'I and I8 while simultaneously the rear pincers I'I and I8 open. At the following stroke of the gripper, the pincers I'I" and I8 now closed, are the rear pincers which pull away the thread 6' thereby inserting it in the warp pace while the pincers I'I and I8 are now the forward pincers and open.

When entering the box, the gripper strikes lirst against one of the sides, against braking tongue 29 which moves the tongue outwardly to act on the lever 28 which in turn raises the usual control rod of the loom of the loose reed type. If the loom be of the Wraith type, such procedure is unnecessary since there are other devices for control purpose.

After the picker, for example 4 has driven the gripper out of the box, the picker is held in the forward position in which the pincers 'I carried by the arm 'I" are out of the box and beneath the lever 24 (Figs. 3 and 4). When in the usual way the slay is approaching the already formed fabric with the reed 33 and with the slay moving the boxes I6 and I0', the roller of the lever 26 will run on the guideways 21 and 36 so that the lever 26 with the lever 24 are lowered to the dotted lines in Figure 4. The lever 24 presses the thread 6 down between the pincers 'I so that the rear end of the weft thread just inserted is held by the pincers 'I. At the same moment, the scissors II or II act to cut off the weft thread length just inserted and the pincers l are holding the forward end of the new weft thread length to be inserted on the next stroke of the gripper.

Immediately after cutting oi the weft just inserted, the roller of lever 26 has passed the point 31 so that under the action of the spring 25', the levers 24 and 26 are again raised to the upper position. After cutting oi the thread 6 and after the raising of the levers 24 and 26, the picker 4', which was up to this moment held in the advanced position, is freed by means of the device shown in Figure 6 to return to the starting position at the rear end of the box. Here, the gripper will again nd a weft thread end and be ready to pick it up with the forward pincers. The rear end of the weft thread length just inserted is cut off very close to the width of the fabric so that there is practically no waste. It will be apparent that the single operations just described are continuously repeated at each side of the loom at each stroke of the gripper I1 so that the wefts are alternately inserted from one and from the other side of the loom and drawn down alternately from the bobbins 8 and 8.

I claim:

l. A gripper for the weft thread of a loom, the gripper comprising a iiat sheath having a tongue, the ends of the tongue projecting from the ends of the sheath and shaped to form pincers therewith, the tongue being pivoted at Vthe center of the sheath so that the pincers at one end of the gripper are closed while the pincers at the 0pposite end are opened, means to present a weft thread to the corresponding pincers of the gripper at each side of the loom, a receiving guide box for the gripper at each side of the loom, a picker for each guide box coacting with the gripper and closing the pincers on the inserted end thereof about the weft thread, means to reciprocate the pickers in the guide boxes synchronized with the movements of the gripper, the means comprising at least an arm for each picker, one end of the Varm being attached to the picker, a downwardly directed rod pivotally disposed on the opposite end of each arm, the arms and rods being under tension away from the loom, and means for maintaining each picker momentarily in an advanced position in the box.

2. A gripper for the weft thread of a loom according to claim 6 in which the means to present a weft thread to the pincers of the gripper at each side of the loom comprises guide arms for the weft thread disposed on the upper side of the picker, pincers coacting with the guide arms disposed on the under side of the picker, and a leverl for pressing the thread end in the pincers synchronized with the movement of the gripper.

3. A gripper for the weft thread of a loom ac- 6 cording to claim 6 in which the pickers are characterized by means for being momentarily held in advanced positions of the guide boxes after each driving stroke until the rear end of the inserted weft thread is cut 01T, the means comprising a lever, the lever having a step formed therein in operable engagement with the downwardly directed arm in the advance position of each picker, and means for releasing the picker from the lever when the warp thread is cut off.

ANGELO BARZAGHI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,102,110 Wahl June 30, 1914 1,564,603 Martin Dec. 8, 1925 1,948,051 Rossmann Feb. 20, 1934 2,152,255 Hefti Mar. 28, 1939 2,203,190 DeGezelle June 4, 1940 2,265,190 Pedrazzo et al. Dec. 9, 1941 2,413,155 Rickelmann Dec. 24, 1946 

